On our own

Shabbat Shalom!

Today we went to our first assembly service at Jerusalem Assembly (aka church--you don't usually call it church in Israel, because the term 'church' is association with the Catholic and Orthodox religions). It was in a kind of run down building that we had to take like a bajillion flight of stairs to get to, but it was such a blessing. It's great to know the work God is doing within His church in Jerusalem, as there aren't a lot of sound Protestant (if I may) Assemblies. He also provided this Assembly with a building after about 7 years of searching for one (it's very difficult to buy real estate in Israel, especially for churches), so that was very encouraging to hear and lessened our reaction to look of the actual building. The congregation was very welcoming though and the service was very....how can I describe it? Just wonderful. It felt more like a family worshipping together rather than just a church service. It truly was a time of fellowship and lifting one another up. I really felt right at home. :) I should have gotten some pictures, but I didn't (I'll have to next week). I sang the whole time in Hebrew, which was a struggle but I made sure to look at the English text underneath in order to know what I was singing, and our group, the IBEX group, got up and sang a song for the congregation --Across the Lands by the Getty’s (look it up and listen if you don't know it). The song fit our group well and the church well, as there was a great mix of America, Israeli, Russian, and German in the Assembly. I'm very excited to go back next week.

After Assembly we were able to go into the Old City by ourselves for the first time. It was nice not having to really rush or be on a ‘study tour’ (we did rush around, but it was for different reasons). It was just fun rushing through the crowds in the market and choosing wherever we wanted to go and of course breaking wherever to take tons of pictures.


With friends in the Kidron Valley with the Eastern Gate in view

We spent most of the day outside of the Old city near the Kidron Valley and then ended our day in the Jewish Quarter. I spent the day with my friends Lee, Michael, Marcy, Jordan, and Jay (pictured above) and Zach (who is behind the camera in this pic). We booked it to Damascus gate for lunch and then headed through the Moslem Quarter to see if it was possible for us to get into the Dome of the Rock. It wasn’t, so we mostly just wandered by the Kidron Valley and then settled at some tombs to explore. We went to Absalom’s tomb and then stopped further down at an unnamed tomb near an Arab neighborhood across from the City of David. Unfortunately, this Arab neighborhood isn’t the friendliest of neighborhoods, so there were some very young boys that thought it would be fun to mess with the Americans. So they were very kind to hit one of our friends on the behind as they rode by on their bikes and then even nicer to begin throwing rocks at the same girl they slapped on the butt as we were up in one of the tombs. Needless to say, we were very happy we had lots of boys with us to protect us, as they chased off the boys by sternly telling them to get out of here and also kindly chucked some rocks at them. Definitely not working towards peace in Israel….but an experience and story to remember. We also got stopped on our way through security to the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter, as a couple of our friends were smart enough to have their knives with them…It wasn’t that bad of an experience and nobody was tackled or taken away or anything, but the Israeli guards just had to go through protocol and we were very honest with them about any weapons (these said knives) that we had. The guards kindly held their knives as we went to the Western Wall, and we were able observe the Sabbath prayer. I would have gotten some pictures of that as well, but it is against the laws of the Sabbath in the Jewish Quarter to take photos during the Sabbath (at least at the Western wall) so I obeyed in order to not cause trouble. I’ll just have to go back on a non-Sabbath day to get some shots ☺. All in all it was a really fun, hectic day and I have a feeling every Saturday in the city will be tread, tread, tread and story after story.

I can’t wait.

Walking through a Market on our way to the Moslem Quarter.

An Israeli speaking on the pelefone in front of the Damascus Wall

The Church of All Nations near Gethsemane

Marcy and me with the Eastern Gate in the background

goofy photos in front of Absalom’s pillar

A Jewish family exploring on the Sabbath

exploring the high tombs outside of the city

Finding our way through the City…it’s amazing all the places we’ve been!

Orthodox Jews on their way to the Western Wall

From Shabbat Shalom.

Tonight calls for…well…no time for rest, it’s time to have more fun! We have our first “Saturday Night Live” –a night filled with games, food, and fellowship. As I always say…you can sleep when you’re dead. At this rate it may be very soon, but at least I’ll die happy ☺. May I rest in peace. Shalom.

What do you see?

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I commande you. Do not be afraid of them, for whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”



The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”….

The almond tree is the first tree that begins to blossom in the land of Israel during the winter. These trees begin to bloom in about November-December and in about 8-9 months later in August they will be ripe for harvest. To say the least, it takes time to make almonds. The Hebrew word for almond tree relates to it being early, which the word for almond tree is sha-ked. Sha-ked means to be diligent, on time, to watch over diligently, and here the Lord uses the picture of an almond tree with Jeremiah to reinforce His faithfulness, His work within him that would take time. He is saying for I am sho-ked over my word to perform it. He’s using the same meaning for the word almond to describe what He is doing with His word—diligently watching over His word to perform it. It’s going to happen. Just as it takes time for the almond tree to be ripe, the Lord would work in him in his time and would be watching over him to see that His work would be done. In Jeremiah’s time, one starts to wonder if God’s word is going to hold. What about the people of Israel? Didn’t He say He will have an everlasting relationship with them, but soon they will be exiled? Is it all done? Is God done with Israel? That is how it often feels in our lives. We may wonder where God is, where Christ is! It’s been 2,000 years since He came and we grow impatient. But as Peter says, don’t think of God’s delay as slowness or slackness. Instead, He’s patient; He’s waiting for more people to be saved and bringing in more souls for the joyous salvation. He’s sho-ked, watching over His Word to perform it. The Lord is also working more in us. There are times that it may seem like the Lord isn’t working; that we’ve been left alone to ourselves to live out our lives for Him, but God promises to never leave or forsake us. He promises to watch over us, to be sho-ked that His word would be fulfilled in us. He is watching over His word to perform it. But it takes time. He’s diligent, watching over; He will bring it about. It may involve a 70-year exile, return, Hasmonean period, but finally God fulfilled His word in His time by sending His son. I know I often don’t feel like I’ve grown much in knowing the Lord and living my life for Him, but I have faith that the Lord is truly working in me. I trust that His Spirit is within me working out my heart in His time. The only thing we can keep doing is growing closer to Him –being in His word, fellowshipping with Him through prayer; living our all for Him. He’ll work out the rest within our hearts and be watching that His word is fulfilled in our lives.

Lord, help me to wait patiently for your word. To live my life fully for you. Put your words in my mouth, Lord. Write your statues on my heart; so that I might be able to recall what you ask of me, what you command my life to look like. Make it known to me that you truly are watching, Lord. Become even more real in my life in this land. I thank you Lord for allowing your Spirit to work in me, for sending your Son in this land that I may be fully restored to you. Tend to my soul that longs for you and aid me to do your work in this land and for the rest of my life that I’ll be spending with you. Hodu l’adonai ki tov….

In the name of Yeshua.

Naim Mehod.

Shalom

Ani Zehaviah.

ata?

Naim Mehod. :)

ani mi Alaska. ma in ata?

tov!

well....uh..Kol tuv! Shalom!

Today I started my first day of real class (not field trip class like yesterday which I still have to talk about that) but class where I sat in the classroom and learned things. My first and only class of the day was Modern Hebrew, and man oh man, am I ever excited for that class! It really is exhilarating learning another language just totally fresh! I mean sure I've taken spanish and learned a bit, but I already understood it, so it totally took the newness of learning something you never knew before! Sure I still can't speak it well, but I blame it on the fact that all we ever did was learn terms...not really how to put them together! Well anywho, my modern Hebrew class is a total immersion class. Our professor speaks no english, unless totally necessary, but for the most part speaks totally in Hebrew. It was strange listening to him speak at first because it was just that experience of "I have NO IDEA what he is saying." But body language definitely helped. It was really fun starting to speak it with my friends and getting my new Hebrew name, Zehaviah. It means gold in Hebrew and apparently I look like a Zehaviah...is that true? I guess I am a golden color or something...ha. Well basically what I wrote up there was what we learned today. You try and figure out what I said....heeheehee.

Now on reflecting on yesterday...

The Old City


Yesterday we entered into the Old City through the Jaffa Gate and were onto our voyage through Jerusalem! After learning a bit of the walls of Jerusalem and the different periods that were represented within them, we headed towards the Citadel, the fortress that was still standing from Herod's reign. From there we could see all of Jerusalem and even valleys and deserts beyond the walls of this city. It's miraculous how small Jerusalem is and yet there is so much in just about every inch of it. There really is a story to be told of every portion of the city of Jerusalem and all of Israel. We spent the day walking around the streets of Jerusalem, going through the markets, looking and singing hymns within churches, speaking of the history that lies within the city, and how our God was connected to it all. We even got to march around the walls of Jerusalem, walking along the border and speaking of the different Quarters we were passing through. There are four different quarters within the walls of Jerusalem: The Muslim Quarter, The Christian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter. I believe we passed all of them but only really focused on three of them (the first three). All are very different from each other. It was interesting starting within the Christian Quarter of the Old City, where there were many that were devoted to being at the Holy Sepulchre and praying/touching the stones of these building, as it is the traditional location where Christ was crucified. (The term "Christian" in Israel is always affiliated with the Catholic church). We then moved around (since we couldn't really go through) the Muslim Quarter that was resounding with Arabic prayers being projected throughout the city, as it was afternoon prayer. There is so much culture and really mixture within Jerusalem, each belief trying to get a foot into a location that ties to their spirituality. But it's a great blessing to know that OUR God did walk through that city and did a great work within this land. The Dome of the Rock may seem to dominate the beauty and allure of Jerusalem, but it was the God of Abraham and Isaac and David that truly worked within this land. It was in Jerusalem that Christ broke the reigns of death, and although many believe they have to pray or touch a stone that he may have touched to be fully healed, or that Mohammad rose from that city to talk with God, it is great to know I can find my faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone. Not in a temple or a rock or a church, but within His Son and the work he did and that alone. But was it ever a blessing to walk through His city!

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
It is beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth.
Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress...

The Old City

Today we explored The Old City. Jerusalem. And it was wonderful. Full of splendor and majesty, for the fact that it was Jerusalem. Oh and very much full of...tiredness? More on that tomorrow.

For now, here's my favorite pic from the day.

God of Rain

Yesterday I took my first step on the land of Israel.

Granted it was in the airport and I didn't really see much of anything on my drive from Tel Aviv because I instantly fell asleep, but just the fact that I'm in Israel fathoms me.

We were greeted with great darkness, it being about 6:00. The first thing we all did, after dropping off our luggage in our rooms (which the school makes them sound much worse than they are), was we had our first kosher dinner here at the Moshav YadHashmona. I was expecting kind of weird food in a not so divine place, as the impression was that we would be roughing it for the next three and a half months; but really, we live in such a beautiful place. It has a very camp-like, communal living feel, as many of the buildings here look like cabins. They say apparently the food gets worse as time goes along or something like that, but all I know all I ate was delicious. Much better than most of the stuff I eat at home. We had a buffet of food and I have to say that I was actually excited to eat fresh vegetables, a luxury we don't have in Kodiak.

After starting to get settled into my room, where I'm rooming with a very nice and sweet girl named Molly Johnston, there was a loud roar outside my window...a thunder storm fell upon Israel. Flashes would zap outside every so often and it was pouring down rain. Now usually I would complain about the rain, since it rains all the time in Kodiak, but being in this new land it was completely new to me. So instead of writing my paper I walked around for an hour or so, took some photos, and just felt the rain fall upon me and listened to the thunder in the distance. I also tried to catch some thunder, but tragically failed. I had a wonderful sleep though and a great breakfast this morning, which was partially eaten in the dark because there was a power outage. That was pretty fun too. Last night was an awesome first experience though in Israel and I'm excited for what the Lord will bring in the months to come. I still can't believe I'm here. I have to remind myself daily that I'm waking up in Israel, learning more about God and His land that He first showed Himself. That's amazing. Today is orientation day. We've already played some games to get to know each other and gotten to see some of the grounds. Next is lunch (yay!) and then our first class of the semester, Land and Bible. We're also going into the hill country really near to us into a town called Abu Ghosh and exploring around there, despite the rain that will probably fall on us. Until my next adventure.

Shalom.

Hodu l'adonia ki tov...

{Give thanks to God for He is good...}

Jet-lag

Today was a long day/night/afternoon of travel.

Left the Master's college at 9am.
Left California at 1pm.
Got to New Jersey at 9 pm. 6 pm Cali. time. Slept the whole time.
Left for Israel at 11pm. 7 pm Cali time.
Got into Israel at 4 pm Israeli time, 7 am california time, 6 am alaskan time.
and I only slept 2 hours the whole plane ride to Israel, which is unusual for me.

Now I'm stealing internet and going to crash because my eyes are closing.

More tomorrow. Shalom.

Leaving for Israel in t-9 hrs

Tiredness already sinking in. But really hard to sleep knowing I'll be in Israel tomorrow. Whoa.

Soon to be in the Holy Land...